“When a nun in a remote convent claims immaculate conception, the Vatican sends a team of priests to investigate, concerned about an ancient prophecy that a woman will give birth to twin boys: one the Messiah, the other the Antichrist.” Which is a perfect setup for a bit of religious-themed horror, the only thing you need to add is a decent cast and a spooky church.

The cast in question is prefectly up for the job. Lee Roy Kuntz is calm and logical priest, only one week away from retirment, and Jaune Kimmel is his fiance, which explains his retirement. He’s brought in by The Church to do one last job; go to a convent somewhere in Russia and find out of Maria Vera Ratti has devinely concieved a pair of twins destined never to get on. Alexander Siddig is also there as Cardinal Russo, who’s main task is to provide exposition and quality character acting, and there is a respectable ensable support cast of various Sister, Fathers, Zoroastrian cultisist and both posessed and unpossesed lay people. Everyone does a fantastic job of being a bit sullen and having deep thoughts about the apocalypse.

The backdrop to the various super-natural shennanigns, and occasional blood letting, is a selection of simple delightful looking locations. There is the gorgiously rundown convent, light by candle-light so what every corner is an abyss of potential jump scares, a fantastic cabin-in-the-woods with a terrifying dark forest, and streets in Russia because apparently it just looks like it’s all going to fall apart. If Homes & Gardens were to run a special on decay and decrepitude these would be the cover stars, and the whole thing is shot to maximise the derilicte feel of the piece. The constatnly overcast weather also helps.

And then there is the script, which is okay and does what it needs to. Whilst there are a couple of rather good dream sequences, mostly it’s a case of cycling through discovering a plot point, having a moment of revelation or exposition, escaping the imminent danger, and then being mooky about the mindshattering horror of the rest of existance decided by two lumps of flesh that haven’t even learned how not to shit themselves yet. There is also something about an eclipse, and I think the devil turns up at one point, but those are just momentery boondoggles to add a bit of extra flavour. And whilst it does lack the cast mostly patch that over by giving everything they’ve got, extensively by looking more and more depressed

For those worried about gore and violence, there really isn’t much of it to get worried about as this just isn’t that kind of movie. There are a couple of mild jump-scares, a few bits where the blood runs delightfully free, and alusions to some pretty nasty things. It hinges on priests being inherently creepy, which they are, and an excellent soundtrack that seems to be a combination of choir and hitting random objects. The films goal is to evoke feelings with tone and presence, rather than overload. There are a couple of intense moments, but they are over before you’re tea spils.

How well it hits that goal is down to personal preference. The 102 minutes run time really does stretch the script and a casual viewers attention thin, and the under-serviced plot points are just as likely to annoy as encourage further contemplation. However, it’s an interesting addition to the canon due to mixing up so may theologies and fears, and managers to do some lovely work with the more cliched parts of the genre. It also shows you can do a heck of a lot with a good cast and restraint, as this could have tipped into a less interesting piece with the addition of more blood. It pushes itself into Treasure teratory by sticking to it’s guns and going the difficult path, and if you have the time it’s an interesting, if minorly flawed, tale.

The Raggedyman
NB – DELIVER US is available on digital platforms including Google, Apple TV, Sky and Amazon from 12 February. Thanks to Altitude Media Group for the screener.